HOLMES, J. STEWART (deceased), formerly an
extensive farmer and stock raiser in the vicinity of Jacksonville, Morgan
County, Ill., was born on his farm there August 26, 1836. He was a son of J. T.
and Jane V. Holmes, natives of Kentucky. In boyhood our subject assisted his
father on the homestead farm and attended the district school in his
neighborhood, afterward pursuing a course of study in Illinois College. He then
applied himself to farming on the family homestead, on which he made many fine
improvements. Besides general farming he devoted his attention to stock-raising
on an extensive scale. He was very successful in all his undertakings, and at
the time of his death, June 14, 1880, was the owner of 444 acres of land,
comprising the home farm.

On February 10, 1864, Mr. Holmes was united in marriage with Julia Hitt, a
daughter of Jesse and Julia (Parker) Hitt, natives of Lexington Ky. Five
children resulted from this union, namely: Sallie H., who was educated in the
Jacksonville Female Academy; James T., who lives on the home farm; Jessie;
Louisa Bernice; and Clarence, who died at the age of eighteen months. The
parents of Mrs. Holmes came to Illinois by wagon in 1836, and settled on the
place where Mrs. Holmes was born. Afterward her father made a trip to New
Orleans with horses and mules, and there he died of typhoid fever. Her mother
died when Mrs. Holmes was three years of age, and the latter was reared to
maturity by her uncle, Elisha B. Hitt. After her husband's death, Mrs. Holmes
remained on the home farm, ten miles east of Jacksonville until 1897, when she
moved to Jacksonville, where she has since resided. She is a very estimable
woman, possessing many graces of mind and heart and is the center of a most
interesting family circle.

In politics Mr. Holmes was a supporter of the Republican party. His religious
connections were with the Presbyterian Church, to which Mrs. Holmes also
belongs. Fraternally, he was affiliated with the A. F. & A. M. As before
mentioned, he was a successful man, and possessed those qualities which merit
and insure substantial progress, notably, energy, perseverance and strict
integrity.